The use of credit, particularly with credit cards, to purchase goods and services has become a necessary and an essential part of the modern economy. However, the process for obtaining credit is generally cumbersome and time-consuming. In most cases, a person or group (“an applicant”) must apply for credit long before the credit is available to the applicant. An applicant may apply for a credit card electronically, by telephone, through the mail, or in person with one or more credit providers, and then wait for credit authorization. In some cases, an application for a credit card, such as a private label credit card, may be made within a store by a customer of the store. However, the customer may still wait days or weeks for the credit to be approved and for delivery of a credit card or other proof of credit to be mailed before the credit may be used.
From the credit provider's perspective, the traditional methods of obtaining a credit card, such as those discussed above, provide some advantages. For example, the traditional methods afford the credit provider a great deal of time to verify the information provided by an applicant on a credit application, determine the risks involved in approving the credit, approve the credit, and determine the terms under which the credit will be provided. The conditions may include a particular credit limit, interest rate, and payment schedule.
However, credit providers who use traditional methods for providing credit miss opportunities to provide credit. For example, the traditional methods for providing credit, including the in-store credit application, do not allow a credit provider to provide credit to customers shortly after the application has been completed and while they are still in a merchant's store. Because the traditional methods are time consuming and cumbersome, they lack the flexibility needed to provide in-store access to credit in a time frame that is sufficiently short to allow the customer to use the credit when the customer is ready to make a purchase. The traditional method for providing credit may cause merchants to miss opportunities as well. Without the ability to obtain virtually instantaneous credit, a customer may forego making purchases that would have been made if the customer could have accessed credit while in the merchant's store, thereby depriving the merchant of a timely sale.